The Top Five Ways HR Can Earn a Seat at the Table

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It’s vital for every department within a company to prove its worth at the conference table, not only to become a viable partner in moving the company forward, but to be viable, period.
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For departments like sales and accounting, hard numbers, facts and figures readily exist to trumpet to the world (and more importantly, the CEO) the bottom-line value of those departments. But for human resources, proving the worth of the department in hard business terms isn’t so easy or straightforward. The very thought of it strikes fear into the hearts of Human Resource Directors because, quite simply, it hasn’t typically been done. In the world of hard numbers, profit and loss figures, stock prices and corporate bottom lines, HR tends to be thought of as a tree-hugging, feel-good hippie. HR deals in the warm and fuzzy world of training, retention, hiring, and motivation—people stuff—rather than dollars and cents. At least that’s the way it looks to many “numbers-oriented” executives. Because of this, HR has not traditionally been a major player in corporate politics, remaining on the sidelines quietly hiring and training employees while others in the company deal with operational profits.

' o5 P& D( U( \, ?' p“Human resource departments have seldom used the same kinds of measurements and metrics employed by other departments,” says Charlie Wonderlic, whose Chicago-based company, Wonderlic Inc., specializes in helping companies hire and keep the right people via pre-employment tests and other HR tools and service programs. “HR deals in ‘intangibles’—training, knowledge, stability of the workforce, people—things that aren’t easily quantifiable. That’s why HR hasn’t typically been included when driving the strategic decisions of companies. HR’s seat at the table has been unoccupied.”
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) r1 r) t' e7 P% z( {0 ~4 a5 f% [4 IIt’s time for HR departments to stand up and be counted. Sure, HR is all about people. But what’s that oft-used phrase? “People are a company’s most valuable asset.” The key for HR departments is proving, in hard numbers, the value of people.

, J/ E5 b2 Z; t. Y7 S' v“Numerous experts have put forth theories of how best to go about snagging that coveted ‘seat at the corporate table,’ but as far as I’m concerned, there’s really only one way: You must earn it,” says Wonderlic. “And then prove it.”

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Here are five ways HR departments can begin to do just that:

3 a9 S( s: B7 O/ E& aDrop the HR jargon and start talking language your CEO understands: e.g., “Bottom-line numbers.”
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It’s all well and good to have perfectly trained employees. CEOs certainly care about that. But to really catch the eye of higher ups, run the numbers displaying how your perfectly trained employees have saved the company money in higher productivity, reduced error rates and improved employee retention. Show a straight line from Well-Trained Employees to Higher Customer Satisfaction to Increased Customer Retention Rates.
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1 F" r9 B: `$ ~7 q3 H- F/ JFocus on your CEO’s top goals for the year and devise ways HR can align its functions with those goals.

Is a top corporate goal to reduce overall costs? Reduce turnover? Increase customer service ratings? Increase employee satisfaction? HR practices like hiring, pre-employment testing, 360 degree reviews and other practices fit nicely with those corporate goals. When you implement these tools be sure to track results that impact the bottom-line.

Outline and implement a concrete action plan to achieve your goals.
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8 l: l# H4 P  X5 CIf reducing costs is a key corporate goal, calculate the cost of hiring then create steps to streamline the hiring process using things like pre-employment testing to screen your job applicant pool, thereby reducing the amount of time spent interviewing unqualified job candidates.

$ W+ b' |1 A1 Y' B3 L! U  p/ _Create the metrics of goal achievement.

If a goal is to improve the efficiency of the hiring process, measures of success could include reducing the cycle time between a vacancy and a hire, determining the effectiveness of different recruiting sources, and discovering how many unqualified applicants are making it to the interview process.

Unsure of how to do it? Get outside help.

Hire an expert to help you navigate the process of proving HR’s worth at the corporate table. Wonderlic has built a team of professional consultants with a background in Industrial and Organizational Psychology and hands-on business experience. They can help you establish concrete goals, develop metrics to track program success, and implement effective solutions. Measurable goals enable HR directors to tie employee actions to the company’s bottom line and to effectively plan their HR strategy.

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